Arrangement introduced in an electronic device for the identification of apparel goods within production chain

ABSTRACT

Arrangement in a device for identifying counterfeit apparel including a cylindrical button body ( 1 ) coupled to a circular base, ( 2 ) forming a circular space ( 4 ) housing an encapsulated assembly formed by a chip ( 6 ) and an antenna ( 5 ). The encapsulated assembly forms an opening that receives a plastic plug ( 7 ) which has a lower circular flap located in a hole provided on the button base. A locking pin is coupled to the button body. Alternatively, the button body is forms a circular guide ( 11 ) which is concentric to the assembly. The button body has a terminal circular flap ( 12 ) configuring an opening ( 10 ) between the internal walls of the button base ( 2 ) and the circular flap ( 12 ). The chip ( 6 ) stores data through programmed codes in a logical sequence containing a fixed code identifying the apparel article and a flexible code to save complementary information on the apparel.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

It refers to an application of a Utility Model patent dealing with anelectronic device designed according to a new arrangement, through whichit is possible to identify apparel goods according to their noveltywithin the production chain, with the purpose of establishing a fullyfaithful and efficient way for said control.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The market has been more and more invaded by counterfeit products onseveral fields of activity, constituting an aggressive and notorious wayto prejudice manufacturers, retailers and consumers in general, whooften purchase products under famous brands or trademarks or with widemarket reputation as original, when in fact they have an unknown origin.Besides all problems, this is also an evident way to prejudice thetreasury, since said products are usually manufactured illegally, notpaying taxes and other duties.

Such occurrences have become intense due to the increasing need ofmanufacturers of apparel articles, especially those bearers of famouslabels or trademarks, to outsource their products, that is, pass on somemanufacturing steps to small manufacturers, which however should keepthe quality standards of the corresponding trademark.

This procedure has as purpose to reduce financial costs and increaseproductivity, but has however generated the possibility of parallelnegotiations between such small manufacturers and stores or departmentstores, potentially considered as product re-sellers, thus imposingnatural losses to the bearers the trademarks who have investedconsiderable amounts to reach their commercial goals.

Several apparel articles are provided with different ways ofidentification of their origin or manufacturer. Paints, shirts andothers have buttons with the trademark printed on them, besides thetraditional label.

As the time went by, labels proved to be easily fakeable, the samehappening to the called buttons. For these reasons, counterfeitproducts, ignoring trademark and tax rights, end up arriving at themarket with the same quality as the original product.

In the fight to solve such problems, the inventor has created anelectronic device installed on said button, whose patent application inBrazil was filed on Jun. 19, 2000 under no. MU 8001255-8. Saidapplication is provided with an electronic device installed on thepaints, shirt, jacket, shoe, purse or similar, to be installed duringthe last step of manufacture of the apparel article, by means of a“small chip forming a circuit with a receiving antenna, when closed,with said circuit storing a fixed code to identify the article and/oralso a flexible code for eventual complementary information”.

Still according to the description of the previous application, “suchcodes will be read by A RFID-type reader (by means of an identificationsystem by radio frequency) by e.g. a brand auditor and the retaileremployee himself/herself, whenever required for internal control”.

The description report of the previous application also discloses: “Thisway, full control of the origin of given batches is obtained by thelabel owner, allowing to find out if it has been manufactured accordingto usual processes (by means of reading the fixed code) and there isalso a possibility for the internal control at the store itself by itsemployees (by means of reading the flexible code, which can allow theinclusion of complementary information on the chip)”

MU 8001255-8 further discloses that: “By means of sequential recordingof programmed codes, the chip can even be detected by third parties, buta copy is nevertheless nearly impossible to be carried out, since thecode sequence can be reached from endless combinations.

The description finally states that: “After reading, to identify theclothe, collected information may be downloaded in a center comprising aPC or any other computer for better control and required steps.”

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Although the electronic device disclosed by MU 8001255-8 has been a veryefficient solution for the purposes of solving the problems existing inthe state of the art technique, the inventor has found a few aspectssubject to be improved, so as to impose full technical and functionalefficiency, besides fully eliminating any possibility of damage to theassembly.

With this purpose in mind, a first aspect examined by the inventorconsists that, in the previous application, the button to be applied tothe clothe was made of metal, which could eventually block theelectromagnetic field. For this reason, such electromagnetic field couldsometimes impose blocking to the communication by radio frequencysignals between the reader and the chip, due to restrictions to wavepropagation.

For this purpose, so to present an ever-efficient communication betweenthe reader and the chip, the inventor presents two new constructivearrangements: in the first one, the button includes, after its assemblystages, a plastic plug on its base, through which the waves propagatenaturally; in the second one, the button body is fully manufactured withengineering plastic material. In such a way, any eventual reading erroris eliminated, thus always assuring fidelity on the originality or notof the article being examined.

Another issue evaluated in the shown state of the art technique is thefact that, due to constant washing of apparel articles, notably washingby whirling, the possibility of entrance of water into the internal sideof the assembly, by transference through the clothe itself, has beenverified.

In this particular, the inventor has taken the antenna plus chipassembly and has given to it, prior to the button closing or nailing, ahot plastic encapsulation, so that, even if eventually reached by liquidduring washing or daily use, said assembly remains protected.

On the other hand, the previous state of the art technique has notpromoted any definition concerning chip localization, with FIG. 1 of theprevious patent application randomly showing said chip in a centralposition within the antenna (2). The inventor has discovered that suchlack of definition could lead to a not always appropriate localizationof said chip in the assembly line, thus causing eventual “crushing”which would make the corresponding chip become useless, even because itsmanufacture with silicon results in an extremely fragile piece.

In this new construction arrangement, the inventor has provided the chipin a lateral position, near the internal side of the edge of theantenna, which would promptly and fully eliminate the possibility of“crushing”, since it is located in a specific placement.

In this proposal, the assembly consists of a substantially cylindricalbody of button which receives a nailed base, so to compose a placementto receive the assembly consisting of chip and antenna (previouslyencapsulated), with such encapsulation resulting in an opening toconcentrically receive a plug, and such plug projecting a lower flaplocated in a hole provided at the base of the button, thus configuring asmall opening. Finally, the locking pin is nailed to the button body.

In this proposal, the basic difference to the previous proposal is theelimination of the plastic plug, but giving to the button body anengineering plastic composition. Further features are kept, such as theprevious encapsulation of the chip plus antenna assembly, as well as thenailing between body and base of the button for final application of thelocking pin.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1: shows a lateral section of the first mentioned construction, inwhich the chip, antenna and plastic plug can be seen;

FIG. 2: shows a lateral section of the second mentioned construction, inwhich the chip and antenna can be seen;

FIG. 3: general blown view of said first construction, including aclothe section for better understanding.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

According to FIG. 1, there is a first construction for the newarrangement introduced in an electronic device for identification ofapparel articles within the production chain, in which a body of button(1) made of metallic material can be seen, which has been nailed througha conventional method to the base of the button (2), (DELETE) also madeof metal. The figure also shows a metal locking pin (3) which is fixed,also through a 5 conventional method, to said button body (1), fixingbetween them the cloth (T) of the apparel article. With sucharrangement, the front face of the locking pin (3) remains exposed tothe apparel article, while the rest of the assembly remains internallylocated within said apparel article.

The novelty of this construction consists of the creation of a placement(4) between said button body (1) and the base of the button (2), inwhich a previously hot encapsulated assembly by plastic film is located,consisting of a ring antenna (5) and a silicon chip (6) laterallylocated near said antenna (5), i.e. near to its internal edge. From saidencapsulation, a central hole results to pass an engineering plasticplug (7) consisting of a circular body with diameter compatible to saidhole, being said plastic plug (7) provided with a 15 terminal flap (8)with smaller diameter which is located inside a hole (9) providedcentral and concentrically on the base of the button (2), thus resultingin an opening (10) between the walls of said hole (9) and said terminalflap (8) which is given by a small diameter difference.

The silicon chip (6) stores data by means of programmed codes in alogical sequence containing a fixed code to identify the apparel articleand a flexible code to save complementary data on said apparel article.

The model assembly requires initially the encapsulation of the assemblyconsisting of the antenna (5) and the silicon chip (6). Then, the buttonbody (1) should be nailed to the base of the button (2), with theencapsulated assembly formed by antenna (5) 25 and chip (6), plus theplastic plug (7) located in its placement (4), so that the locking pin(3) is finally applied to the button body (1), so to fix the cloth (T)of the apparel article in that operation.

FIG. 3 shows said first construction with blown parts, before saidencapsulation.

FIG. 2 shows a second construction of the model, which main differenceto the described construction consists of the elimination of the plasticplug. However, since the 5 communication by radio frequency between thechip (6) and the reading device (not shown) requires, according to theeffected tests and as previously described, the elimination of aneventual electromagnetic field blockage, the button body (1) is now madeof engineering plastic. Such construction preserves the placement (4),since the plastic encapsulation of the assembly consisting of theantenna (5) and the silicon chip (6); while said button body 10 (1)forms a circular guide (11) which is concentric to said antenna (5) pluschip (6) assembly, with said terminal circular flap (12) playing exactlythe role of the flap (8) of the previous construction, configuring anopening (10) between the internal walls of the base of the button (2)and the circular flap (12).

In this second construction, the set assembly follows a sequencecompatible to that described for the first construction, i.e.: thecircular antenna (5) plus silicon chip (6) assembly is hot encapsulatedby plastic film; the button body (1) is then nailed to the base of thebutton (2), with said previously encapsulated assembly introduced withinthe placement (4); so that finally apply the locking pin (3) fixing thecloth (T).

Therefore, according to the new constructive arrangement in its twoproposals, the model allows for perfect communication by radio frequencybetween the reader (not shown) and the silicon chip (6), since theelimination of the possibility of blocking the electromagnetic fieldwith a “shield” guarantees such a success. Therefore, as reported in theprevious patent application from the same inventor, a lot or batch ofapparel articles can be identified as legitimate by radio frequencyreading; in case the employed button is not provided with a chip withthe previously installed codes, the person in charge of reading willpromptly identify it as not being an original product. With the newconstructive arrangement, presented herein, there is now full assuranceof the originality or not of the investigated product, since no readingerrors can occur.

On the other hand, we can verify that the lateral localization of thechip (6) inside the circular antenna (5), as well as the encapsulationprocess, eliminates any possibility 5 of “crushing” the chip during theassembly; besides avoiding that water to directly reach said chip (6) byconduction through the cloth.

1. ARRANGEMENT INTRODUCED IN AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE FOR AN IDENTIFICATIONOF APPAREL ARTICLES WITHIN A PRODUCTION CHAIN, comprising: a buttonhaving a body (1) of plastic material and a base (2), wherein said body(1) is coupled to said base (2); a metal locking pin (3) fixed to saidbutton body (1), wherein a cloth (T) of the apparel article is fixedbetween said metal locking pin (3) and said button body (1); a space (4)between said button body (1) and the base of the button (2), in which anassembly encapsulated by plastic film is located, said assembly formedby a ring antenna (5) and a silicon chip (6) laterally located near saidantenna (5); said assembly forms a central first hole for passing anengineering plastic plug (7) with a compatible diameter to said firsthole into said first hole; wherein said plastic plug (7) provided with aterminal circular flap (8) of smaller diameter located in a second hole(9) provided in the center of the base of the button (2), thus resultingin an opening (10) between the walls of said second hole (9) and saidterminal circular flap (8) formed by a small diameter difference; andwherein the silicon chip (6) stores data through programmed codes in alogical sequence containing a fixed code to identify the apparel articleand a flexible code to save complementary information on said apparelarticle.
 2. ARRANGEMENT INTRODUCED IN AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE FOR ANIDENTIFICATION OF APPAREL ARTICLES WITHIN A PRODUCTION CHAIN,comprising: a button having a body (1) of plastic material and a base(2), wherein said body (1) is coupled to said base (2); a metal lockingpin (3) fixed to said button body (1), wherein a cloth (T) of theapparel article is fixed between said metal locking pin (3) and saidbutton body (1); a space (4) between said button body (1) and the baseof the button (2), in which an assembly, encapsulated by a previouslyhot plastic film, is located; wherein said assembly is formed by a ringantenna (5) and a silicon chip (6) laterally located near said antenna(5); said button body (1) forms a circular guide (11) which isconcentric to said antenna (5) and chip (6) assembly, with a terminalcircular flap (12) configuring an opening (10) between the internalwalls of the base of the button (2) and the circular flap (12); whereinthe silicon chip (6) stores data through programmed codes in a logicalsequence containing a fixed code to identify the apparel article and aflexible code to save complementary information on said apparel article.